In a dramatic twist to the Conservative Party leadership election, Boris Johnson has pulled out of the contest, claiming that he has come to the realisation that he doesn’t have the numbers to unite the parliamentary conservative party.
Mr Johnson suggested that he had obtained at least 102 MP backers, more than the number he needed in order to reach the required nomination mark to enter the contest.
However in a statement Mr Johnson said, “In the course of the last few days, I have sadly come to the conclusion that this would simply not be the right thing to do. You can’t govern effectively unless you have a united party in parliament”.
Continuing, Mr Johnson said, “I believe that I have much to offer, but I am afraid this is simply not the right time”.
All attention now turns to how many of Mr Johnson’s supporters will transfer their support to Penny Mordaunt, given their ongoing hostility to Mr Sunak. A number of Mr Johnson’s supporters blame Mr Sunak for triggering the course of events that led to Mr Johnson’s resignation in July.
With Mr Johnson out of the contest, it may also be that a number of the remaining Conservative MPs who had not yet declared for a particular candidate, will now feel more comfortable backing Ms Mordaunt.
Ms Mordaunt who was 33-1 in the betting markets prior to Mr Johnson’s statement, has now come down to 10-1 with some bookmakers.
However it is not the case that all of Mr Johnson’s backers will support Ms Mordaunt, with the former Chancellor, Nadhim Zahawi being a case in point. Mr Zahawi has already transferred his allegiance from Mr Johnson straight to Mr Sunak. Mr Johnson’s former PPS and Campaign Manager, Sir James Duddridge has also transferred his backing to Mr Sunak.
Should Ms Mordaunt not reach the 100 MP mark herself by tomorrow at 2pm, then Rishi Sunak would be the only candidate with the sufficient nominations to stand for the Conservative leadership. He will then take over from Liz Truss as prime minister next week.
Mr Sunak’s campaign team will now be keen to show that the former chancellor has the support of as many Conservative MPs as possible, not least to demonstrate to the public that the Conservative Party has returned to a greater sense of unity. He has been boosted overnight by the support of the new chancellor, Jeremy Hunt.
Mr Johnson’s surprise decision last night to withdraw from the race came after a day in which his supporters regularly claimed that the former prime minister had the 100 MP numbers that he needed.
At the time of withdrawing from the race, only 60 MPs had publicly declared for Mr Johnson, albeit there were likely to be a number of other MPs who backed Mr Johnson, but who were not able to do so publicly given their roles in offices of the Conservative Party, the 1922 Committee Executive, and the government whips office.
It is likely never to be known whether Mr Johnson did actually have more than 100 MPs backing him. It remains possible that Mr Johnson did not have the numbers that he needed, and that it had now become evident that he was not going to reach that point.
